Texas secured exclusive negotiating rights to Yu Darvish with a $51.7 million bid and apparently Toronto finished runner-up for the Japanese ace, as Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star reports that the Blue Jays submitted a bid in excess of $50 million.
General manager Alex Anthopoulos predictably declined to give any details about the Blue Jays’ pursuit of Darvish, but given how many sources expected them to land him the fact that their bid topped $50 million makes sense.
Texas’ bid of $51.7 million establishes a new recording for the posting process, topping the $51.1 million bid by Boston for Daisuke Matsuzaka. And whichever Rangers staffer came to the conclusion that $51.7 million was the right number--as opposed to, say, $50 million or $51.2 million--did a pretty great job if the Blue Jays’ bid was truly above $50 million.